Introduction

In this first tutorial you will learn how to start AutoCAD,

save a drawing, and a range of common drawing
commands.

Starting AutoCAD
Alternatively, click on the Start AutoCAD by clicking on the Windows Start button
AutoCAD icon  in the "icon (bottom left), then move the mouse to Programs then CAD
tray" at the bottom of the and Modelling then "AutoCAD Architectural Desktop 2"
(Windows 95/98/NT) screen. Note
that these instructions are specific
and click on AutoCAD Architectural Desktop 2. A dialog
to the FBE. giving various startup options will be displayed. Select the
second option: "Start from Scratch" and click OK.
Once AutoCAD has loaded, move the mouse around until
you see a crosshair cursor. The AutoCAD window has a
number of important features:

1. The standard Windows drop-down menus.

2. The standard Windows toolbar below the menus, it
includes: File-New, File-Open, File-Save, Print and
"Find and Replace"(!!).
3. In addition to the standard toolbar there will be a
number of AutoCAD specific toolbars: Object
Properties, Draw and Modify (there may be
others...?).
4. The graphics area - that's the area where you draw -
Despite command line interfaces note the scroll bars and the axis label.
being considered totally archaic 5. View Tabs - these 'tabs' give access to different view
the command area in AutoCAD is
absolutely vital! One of the key of the current drawing. The "model" tab should be
things I'm trying to "get you to do" selected at present.
in these tutorials is to watch the 6. The command area - this small window (by default)
command area! Using AutoCAD is has space for three lines of text - this is where you
like a conversation and AutoCAD's type commands.
half of the conversation comes
from the text in the command 7. The status area, at the bottom of the AutoCAD
area... window, this includes the current cursor position.
Figure 1       AutoCAD R14 screen.

Command Entry

  Typically there are three ways of giving a command!

1. Type the command using the keyboard - the
command is displayed in the command area.
Not all commands are on the
Menus and/or toolbars!
2. Select the command from a menu.
3. Select the command's icon from a toolbar.

When I want you to type a command in the command area

This means : type the text (qsave) the AutoCAD command will be written like:
and then press the Enter key (or
the space-bar).         type: QSAVE
This means : click on When I want you to select a command from a menu, it will
the 'File' menu and look like:
then 'Save' (which should be one of
the items on the 'File' menu).
        select File - Save

AutoCAD also supports common When I want you to pick a command from a toolbar, I'll
shortcuts like Ctrl-S for Save!! write:
        select Save
Here I'm trying to cover all the
bases by giving you the command
to type, the menu options and
showing you what the toolbar icon Despite all of the above, I'll probably use a combination of
looks like! the above like:
        select File - Save (or type QSAVE )

Draw a Rectangle

Select Rectangle (or type rectang ), then type:

The text typed is displayed in the         15,15
command area at the bottom of
AutoCAD's window.       415,315          these are absolute cartesian coordinates

Hopefully AutoCAD drew a rectangle, which fits

comfortably in the AutoCAD graphics area!? If you can't
see the rectanlge, typez [space] a [space] (zoom all) -
this instructs AutoCAD to redraw the view, "zooming out"
to show all the graphics on the drawing.

Saving a Drawing

Select the Save icon from the standard toolbar. The drawing
Note that if you type SAVE  , you has not been saved before, so AutoCAD will display the
actually get "Save As"!! SAVE AS dialog box, select the appropriate Drive and
The quickest way to save is to press
Directory (for example: S:\arch\u1234567), type the
Ctrl-S - this is the same as "qsave". drawing name (for example TUT1), and then select "OK".

Draw some Lines

Instead of LINE, you can also We will now draw some more graphics and then save and
type:L  this is an "alias" - which exit AutoCAD.
is a short-cut.
Type LINE

The exact positions of these lines is Move the crosshair to near the bottom-left of the rectangle
not important. and click the left mouse button, then move the crosshair to
the top-right of the rectangle and again click the left mouse
button.
Remember this! If you press    Press   to terminate the command, and then press   again
after you finish a command, the
command is re-issued. to re-start the command!
 Draw a line from the top-left to the bottom-right of the
rectangle, and then press   to end the command.
This will save the drawing and exit Now type:
AutoCAD - don't PANIC!         QUIT
You will be prompted to save the changes you've made -
click OK.

Starting AutoCAD with an Existing Drawing

Please note that this To load a drawing, either click on the "Your Account" icon
icon is specific to the or start Windows Explorer and select the appropriate Drive
FBE's Labs at
UNSW.
and Directory. Once Explorer is showing the correct
directory then double-click on your drawing.
If you can't find your drawing (in Windows Explorer) then
press F5 (function key 5), this tells Explorer to update the
directory display; if you still can't find your drawing then
perhaps you saved the drawing in some other directory -
load AutoCAD and then select the File menu, at the bottom
of the File menu is a list of recently opened drawings, select
your drawing from the list.

Coordinate Systems

When specifying positions you can use Cartesian or Polar

Coordinates. Cartesian coordinates are simply a X value, a
AutoCAD is a three dimensional comma, and a Y value, for example: 100,100. Polar
CAD system, so you can enter XYZ
values instead of the XY values coordinates are a Distance followed by a < symbol and an
shown here. angle, for example:10<25. Angles are measured in degrees,
with 0 = East and90 = North. Any of these numbers can
have decimal values.
The positions specified above are "absolute coordinates",
because they specify a particular position. AutoCAD can
Consider relative coordinates
simply as distances!
also use"relative coordinates" to specify a position
relative to the current position, for example: @5.6,-
3.4 and @16.32<62.

Draw a "Diamond"
This should draw a "diamond" (a The "polyline" used below is used to create a sequence of
rotated rectangle) shape. joined line segments, which become one object. Using the
"line" command each line segment is a separate object.
If you make a mistake, you can
Select Polyline (or type: pline  ) and then type:
undo the last line segment by
absolute cartesian
      215,15
typing: u .     
coordinate
"c" means "close" the shape. @212<45 relative polar coordinate
 @212<135
@212<225
c

Snap Modes
A simple way to turn Object Snap It is often useful to be able to draw something from (for
ON or OFF, is to click on example) the end of another shape. AutoCAD has a large
"OSNAP" in the status Area. To
selection of "snap modes" for this purpose. The most
see the various snap options
"right-click" on "OSNAP" (in the commonly used snap modes are "Endpoint" (which snaps to
status area) and select the end of the selected graphics entity) and "Intersection"
"Settings...". (which snaps to the intersection of two graphics entities).
To get AutoCAD to display the The object snap modes can either be typed or they can be
Object Snap Modes toolbar, select
"Toolbars" from the "View" menu selected from the standard toolbar   or from the snap
and then select "Object Snap". toolbar:

To display the
"Drafting Settings"
dialog, click on the
"horse-shoe" shaped
icon on the end of the
Object Snap Toolbar.

Draw an Arc

Select Arc (or type ARC  ), then select the midpoint snap

mode (or type: MID  ) and select the left side of the bottom
of the "diamond" polyline you drew before. Then use the
midpoint snap to enter points on the right side at the bottom
and then the top of the polyline (see figure 2).

Figure 2         Arc construction.

Finally...

Draw the rectangle by selecting  Lastly, I want you to draw a rectangle in the diamond shape,
from the draw toolbar (or another diamond inside that rectangle, a circle inside that
typerectang  ) diamond and a horizontal and vertical line also inside the
last diamond (see figure 3)! Each shape should touch the
Midpoints of the previous shape...
Alternatively select the circle icon HINT: To draw the circle, select Draw - Circle - 2
 and then type 2p  then pick Points and then (using midpoint snap) pick opposite sides
the points. of the inner diamond.

If you use the MIDpoint Snap

Mode for each point(!), you should
be able to draw the shapes without
much trouble.

If you make a mistake, press "Esc"

(the "escape" key, located at the
top-left of the keyboard). Then
typeU  (the undo comand).

Figure 3         Finished Tutorial 1 drawing.

Finishing up

That's all for tutorial one! Save your drawing (press Ctrl-S)

and then exit AutoCAD (select File - Exit).

Remember to log off before leaving.

Introduction

The drawing used for this tutorial In this tutorial you will learn how to edit graphics(!) and
comes from Clark R. and M.Pause, about setting model space limits. You will draw a simple
"Precedents in Architecture", VNR plan based on Frank Lloyd Wright's 1956 (New York)
1985, page 135. Guggenheim Museum.
Please note that the dimensions used in this tutorial are
neither accurate nor correct! I don't have access to an
accurately dimensioned drawing of the building so I've
guessed the dimensions...

Starting AutoCAD

Start AutoCAD, and then move the cursor to the bottom left
On my computer, the bottom-left of the screen, you will note the coordinates (on the status
coordinate was 0,0,0 and the top- line) go down to near 0,0. In the version I am using the
right coordinate was 514,296,0. drawing limits are set to the size (in millimetres) of an A3
sheet of paper (420,297).

Setting the Limits and Units

It is normal when using AutoCAD to draw objects full size,
so it's usually necessary to reset the drawing limits to
(about) the size of the object being drawn (or in the case of
a building the building's site). Type:
Alternatively, select Format -   limits  
Drawing Limits and then type the 0,0 This sets the drawing "size" to 50x50
numbers shown. 50000,50000 metres.

Next we need to get rid of the 4 decimal points! Select

"Format - Units...", AutoCAD will display the "Drawing
Units" dialog. Make sure Decimal is selected in
the Units section and Decimal Degrees in
If the coordinates in the status area the Angles section, then in Unit's Precision, click on the
didn't change to no decimal places, down arrow beside "0.0000" and select "0", and finally
move the mouse! select "OK".

Zoom All  This sets the "model space" dimensions. To reset the
Zoom Window  drawing view to the whole of the (empty) drawing, select
Z  is the alias (shortcut) the zoom-all icon, which is hiding under the zoom-window
for ZOOM.Remember icon (on the standard toolbar) - hold the button down and
that [space] is the same as  . then rest of the zoom toolbar is displayed (or type: Z
[space] A [space] ).
 Move the cursor around now and note that the coordinates
are now bigger numbers!

Let the Drawing Begin!!

Firstly draw a rectangle from 0,0 to 50000,50000, you
This shows us the "drawing area".
should remember how to do that from the first tutorial!
Circle  Then draw a circle, centred at 30000,24000 with a 6000
"C" is the alias for CIRCLE. radius. Select circle (or type: C   ), then type:
the circle
  30000,24000   centre
the circle
6000
radius

Centre snap  Next you will draw another circle, with the same centre, but
with a 9500 radius. Press:   to "recall" the last command.
To get AutoCAD to display the Select thecentre snap mode (or type: CEN  ), then pick the
Object Snap Modes toolbar, select
"Toolbars" from the "View" menu
first circle (NOT the centre of the circle), then type:
the circle
and then select  "Object Snap".   9500   radius

Draw the Building "Wing"

Next draw a rectangle from the centre of the circles to
Hopefully you remember how!!
39500,33500.
Once you have done that draw another rectangle to the right
Hint: use a relative coordinate
@1500,9500.
of the last, start at 39500,24000 and make the rectangle
1500x9500.
You might find the following Now you will draw an arc on the end of the last rectangle
section easier if you turn object (see figure 1). Select Draw - Arc - Start-Center-End, then
snapping ON (make sure "OSNAP"
is IN in the status area).
select the Endpoint snap mode (or type: END   ) and select
Endpoint Snap 
the bottom-right of the last rectangle. For the centre point of
Midpoint Snap 
the Arc, select the Midpoint Snap Mode (or type: MID   
) and select the middle of the right edge of the last rectangle.
For the end of the Arc, select the Endpoint Snap Mode and
select the top-right of the rectangle.
 Figure 1         Showing the location of the ARC.

Save the drawing

Save  Save the drawing: select the save icon (or type: QSAVE ), if

you are prompted for a drawing name, select the appropriate
Drive and Directory and type a drawing name (for
example: TUT2) and select "OK".

Copy & Rotate the Building Wing

Now we want to copy & rotate the two rectangles and the
arc (3 times), AutoCAD provides the array command to
The array command is used to achieve this.
copy one or more objects in either
a rectangular or circular pattern Select Modify - Array, AutoCAD will prompt for the
and when a circular pattern is used objects to be selected: click below and to the left of the
the objects can be rotated; it can bottom-left corner of the left rectangle and then move the
be an incredibly powerful mouse until the selection rectangle encloses the two
command. rectangles and the arc - then click the mouse button (3
objects should be selected). Then press  to end the
selection process.
Centre snap  AutoCAD will then prompt for the type of Arrary -
After selecting the Centre snap rectangular or polar, type: P  for polar. Then use the
mode, pick the circle  NOT  the Centre snap mode to select the centre of the circles. Then
centre! type:
the number of items (including the exisiting
  4   item)
    accept 360 degrees
    accept "rotate as copied"
 Figure 2         Drawing with all four building "wings" in
place.

Exploding Objects!
For convenience, in the following
section, I'll talk of the "top-right Now we need to erase some of the lines we've drawn. When
wing" and the "bottom- right the rectangle command is used the rectangle that is drawn is
wing". By the "top-right wing" I a "polyline" which means that all the lines that make up the
mean the first rectangles and arc object are joined together, the lines must
that you drew, and the "bottom- be "exploded" before any parts of the rectangle can be
right wing" is the rectangles and
arc in the bottom-right corner!!
erased.

Explode  Select explode from the modify toolbar (or type X  which

Be aware that explode does not is the alias for "explode") select both the rectangles in the
appear to do anything! It doesn't "top-right corner" and then press  . If AutoCAD doesn't
say - "yes, I've done that" and the
display doesn't change, but
display any error messages then the explode command
AutoCAD  will  dispaly an error
worked!
message if it failed to explode the
objects.

Erasing Objects
We need to delete some extraneous lines from the drawing...
Erase  Select erase from the modify toolbar (or type: E  ). Click
on the right edge of the inner rectangle (from the "top-right"
corner), and press  . AutoCAD should automatically
redraw the area around the erased line.
Now we erase the other line there! An alternate way to delete is to click on the object to be
 deleted and then press the keyboard's "Delete" key. Click on
the line in the same place and press "Delete".
To test your understanding: explode the two rectangles in
the "bottom-right wing" and the erase all the "inner" lines
(see figure 3).

Figure 3         Lines to be erased.

Stretching Your Wings

Now you need to stretch the "bottom-left wing" and then
remove the inner lines.
Stretch  Select stretch (or type: S  which is the alias for stretch).
The  "C"  tells AutoCAD that you Type C  and then draw a selection window around the arc
want a "crossing" window. The andthrough the small rectangle (see figure 4), press   to
normal selection window selects terminate the selection process, click with left mouse button
only those objects wholly within
the section window. A crossing
near the selected objects, and type: @-10000,0   (this is
selection window selects objects the "stretch distance"). If that worked the building wing
should stretch 10 metres (to the left).
 that are  wholly  or  partly  within
the selection window.

A useful short-cut to know is that if

you draw a selection rectangle left-
to-right (in the positive X
direction) AutoCAD interprets it as
a "window" selection; but if you
draw the selection rectangle right-
to-left AutoCAD interprets it as a
"crossing" selection.
[Tip thanks to Jack Barton]

Figure 4         Stretch selection rectangle.

Explode both the rectangles in the "bottom-left wing" and
erase the vertical lines, except the line from the centre of
the circles.

One Last Circle...

The last object to add is a circle inside the arc of the

Circle  "bottom-left wing". Select circle (or type: C   ). Select the
Centre snap  Center snap mode (or type: CEN   ) and click on the arc;
then type 3600 (the circle's radius).
It's  always  worth saving your
Select save (or press Ctrl-S).
work regularly!

More Explosions and Deletions....

The drawing is basically complete, all that needs to be done
is to change some of the line-types!
Explode  Select: explode from the modify toolbar (or type X  
AutoCAD should display a ), select all the rectangles at the centre of the original circles
message saying that some objects (use a crossing selection window), and then press  .
could not be exploded - ignore the
message - it's simply saying that There are 8 lines going to the centre (4 are "covered" by the
some of the rectangles have others). You need to erase 4 of them, select erase from the
already been exploded.
modify toolbar (or type: E  ), then click on each of the four
Erase 
lines and finally press  .
You should now be able to see the lines that were under the
lines you erased!
Changing Line Types
Before changing some of the lines to dashed lines, we need
to load the linetype(!). Select Format - Linetype..., then
select"Load...". AutoCAD will display a list of linetypes,
select"Hidden" (you will need to scroll through the list!),
then select "OK", then select "OK" again to dismiss the
"Select Linetype" dialog box.
Select the 4 lines going to the circle centre and the arcs in
the "top- left" and "top-right" wings (see figure 5), then
select Modify - Properties..., A dialog with the properties
of the selected objects is displayed. Change the Linetype
to HIDDEN and the Linetype Scale to 75 and dismiss the
dialog.
The objects should be redrawn using dashed lines (see
figure 5).

Figure 5         Finished form study of Wright's Guggenheim Museum

The End!

Introduction
This church has been selected In this tutorial you will draw a plan of Brunelleschi's
 Church of San Maria Degli Angeli (Florence, Italy, 1434-
because it is very symmetrical. 1436), from Clark and Pause's "Precedents in Architecture",
Whenever you are drawing page 28; have a look atfigure 20 at the end of the tutorial.
anything, look carefully for You will note that the church has eight "bays" and that each
symmetry and repetition, because bay is itself symmetrical. You will draw half of one bay and
CAD systems excel at those things.
then mirror that half to create a whole bay and then copy
that to complete the plan...
This tutorial introduces a number of
AutoCAD constructioncommands:
Please note that the dimensions
used in this tutorial are neither
 offset, and
accurate nor correct! I don't have  mirror,
access to an accurately and a number of AutoCAD editing commands:
dimensioned drawing of the  fillet,
building so I've guessed the
dimensions...  trim,
 break, and
 extend.
In case all that isn't enough for you, you will also learn
aboutlayers, hatching, and grip editing.

Setting Limits and Units

You will draw the building in a 50x50m space, but this

time, the limits will centre on 0,0! If these seem like
particularly perverse drawing limits, it's because
they ARE! I'm making sure that you are aware that the
limits do not need to start at 0,0. Type:
The coordinates used make the   limits
centre of the drawing 0,0 which
-25000,-25000
makes it easy to copy the church
"bay" around. 25000,25000

Like in the previous tutorial, we need to get rid of the 4

decimal points: select Format - Units, AutoCAD will
display the "Drawing Units" dialog. Make sure Decimal is
selected in theUnits section and Decimal Degrees in
the Angles section, then in Unit's Precision, click on the
down arrow beside "0.0000" and select "0", and finally
select "OK". Alternatively, type UNITS and then follow the
prompts.
To reset the drawing view to the whole of the drawing,
Zoom All  select zoom-all from the standard toolbar (or type: Z
[space] A [space])

Now that you've "zoomed out", draw a rectangle using the

Don't forget to do this . . . coordinates from the drawing limits (this will provide
a border for the drawing)!
If the Axis label (which is called the "UCS icon") is
 distracting - I certainly find it so - you can hide it by
selecting View - Display - UCS Icon - On.

Layers
Most CAD systems have some kind of overlay concept.
AutoCAD uses layers. Layers are used to separate and
structure drawings; layers can be turned on and off (for
example to vary the amount of detail in a drawing), and can
have linetypes associated with them....

Figure 1     The Layer status area (Object Properties toolbar).

When using AutoCAD, the graphics appears on the current

layer, so be careful that the current layer is correct. Look
near the top-left of the screen: the current layer and it's
colour is displayed there (see figure 1).
Layers icon 
Select the Layers icon or select Format - Layers...,
The current layer is the layer to
which new graphics is added. The AutoCAD will display the "Layer Properties Manager"
properties command (which was dialog. Click on the "New" button and then type CONST (to
introduced in the previous tutorial) change the default "layer1" name to something more
cann be used to change a graphics meaningful), then click on the "Current" button to make this
object's layer (or linetype or
the current layer.
colour).

Change the colour and then "OK" the dialog box.

Draw "Construction" Lines

Draw a line from the centre of the building: select then line
Line icon 
icon (or type L ), and then type:
  0,0  
0,-17500
@3000,0
terminate the
 command
Zoom Window  Before continuing, you should "zoom in" to the lines, select
zoom-window (or type Z  W ), enclose the lines in the
selection rectangle.
Offset  Select offset from the Modify toolbar (or type [the letter
'o']O ), and then type:
The offset command makes it easy   250   the offset distance
to set up a series of grid line or select the short horizontal line
(drawing) construction lines.
pick a spot anywhere above the line
select the new line
pick a spot anywhere above it
terminate the
command
This should produce one vertical and three horizontal lines.

Revisiting Polar Array

Now you will use polar array to copy and rotate some lines.
Select array from the modify toolbar (or
Array  typeAR ), then select the lines just drawn by
(under the offset icon) picking a spot below and to the right of the
"corner" and then another spot above and to the
left or the "corner" - make sure the selection
rectanglecrosses the three horizontal lines (and
the vertical line). Press   to end the selection
process, typeP  (to specify a polar array),
type 0,0  (for the centre of the rotation), 2   Figure 2
(number of items),22.5  (angle), Y  (rotate The lines after
using Array.
the objects).

Editing
The lines at the bottom represent the outside of the building.
Fillet icon  To connect these lines select the fillet icon (or type F ),
(be careful because it looks like look at the command line area - if the current fillet radius is
chamfer). NOT 0 (zero) - then type R  0  (that's a zero).
The Fillet command is If you had to change the
exceptionally useful. It basically
radius, press type    to
extends two lines until they meet,
and optionally, inserts a curve restart the command.
where the lines join.
Select the outer of the three
sloping lines, and then select
the bottom horizontal line.
AutoCAD will extend the
two lines until they connect     Figure 3   Fillet.
 to each other.
Next, you will trim the sloping line back to the line from the
centre.
The trim command is another command that you use very
often. The first point you specify selects the "cutting edge",
that is, the line to which you are trimming back to. While
succeeding selections identify lines to be trimmed.
Trim icon  Select the trim icon from the
When picking lines to be trimmed, Modify toolbar (or type TR ), for
the part of the line that you select the "cutting edge" select a spot near
is important. In the example in
figure 3, if you pick to the left of
"first point" on Figure 4, press   
the first line selected (rather than (to end the selection process),
to the right of it), then the line will select the line to be trimmed
be trimmed from the fillet point to ("second point"); and press   (to
the boundary line. In other words, end the command). Figure 4 Points to be
you'll undo the fillet you just did!   selected for the
Trim

Repeat the fillet and trim process for the other two inner
lines!

Draw the Floor Pattern

Before you draw the floor pattern, you'll create a new layer,
Layers  select the layers icon (or type LA  ), create a new layer
called FLOOR, and make it the current layer.
To draw the horizontal lines of the floor pattern, select line
This line uses absolute & relative
(or type L  ), and type 0,-6500  @5000,0  and press   
coords. (Figure 6 shows the
finished floor pattern.) again (to end the command). This line will be trimmed
later....
Offset icon  Select offset (or type OFFSET  or just o  ), type 625  
(the offset distance), select the line just drawn, click below
the line to indicate the direction of offset, and press   
again. Press   (to start another offset), type 1375  (offset
distance), select the last line created by the offset, click
below the line to offset down, and press   again to end the
command.
Remember that you can restart the Offset this line 625 down! If that worked, you should have
last command by pressing  two pairs of lines. These lines will form the octagonal
pattern in the centre of the building. Continue offsetting the
This is basically trying to teach
you to watch (and interract with) "last" line, using the following offsets:
the prompts that AutoCAD displays       500, 750, 500, 4625, 500
in the command area.
That's most of the horizontal lines in the plan! Next, you
will now draw the rest of the floor pattern. Have a look
 at figure 16 which shows the completed bay.
Trim icon  Firstly, offset the vertical (centre) line
2000 to the right, and then
I'm introducing the "fence" option
because it makes it very easy to select : trim (or typeTR  ), pick the
trim a whole series of lines by vertical line just created press   (end the
simply drawing a line that crosses selection process), typeF   (this tells
them. The fence line works like the AutoCAD that you will draw a fence
"crossing window" selection in that
the objects that the line crosses are
line - see figure 5), draw a fence line like
selected. that shown in the figure (itmust cross the
four lines shown), after you pick the
second point of the fence line, press   
twice (firstly to end the fence line and
Figure 5   Trim fence
secondly to end the command)! line.

The following section uses a number of snap modes. The

easiest way to work with snaps is to pre-set them and then
let AutoCAD dynamically show which snap it can use...
Alternatively, display the Object
Snap Toolbar. Select View - Right-click on "OSNAP" (in the status area at the bottom of
Toolbars... check Object AutoCAD's window) and select "Settings...", then turn
Snap (the toolbar will be
displayed) and then click on close. "Endpoint" and "Midpoint" ON (by clicking on them). It
would probably be a good idea to turn OFF any of the other
snaps that are ON. Finally, make sure the "OSNAP" button
is IN.
Erase icon  Select erase from the Modify toolbar (or type E   ), select
the vertical line used as the "trim guide", press   (end the
Save icon  command). Now is a good time to save the drawing,
select save (or press Ctrl-S), enter a drawing name if
prompted (and don't forget to change the drive & directory
if necessary).
Line icon  Now you will draw the line and arc for the floor pattern,
selectline (or type L  ) then, using the Endpoint snap mode
Endpoint snap mode icon  (which should automatically be set by moving the cross-hair
near the endpoint), select the right edge of the "bottom"
trimmed line and (again using the Endpoint snap mode)
select the right edge of the line above it, then press   (end
the command).
Midpoint snap mode icon  Select Draw - Arc - Center-Start-End (do NOT pick the
The arc should start and end just arc icon) then, using the Midpoint snap mode select the
"inside" the ends of the vertical middle of the line just drawn, then type @0,-1800  
line.
@0,3600 . That should have drawn an arc to the right of
the vertical line.
Break icon  Now you will use "break" to remove the part
Break is an extremely usefulof the line between the arc's endpoints.
command that is used often inSelectbreak (or type BR  ), select the vertical
editing operations.
line, type F  (to specify that the next point
An alternative way to choose a will be the "first" point of the break), then
using the Endpoint snap mode, select the
 snap mode is to hold the Ctrl key
and click the right mouse button(!)
- AutoCAD will display a pop-up
menu with the snap modes.

While we're talking about the

mouse ;-), right-clicking in Now draw a line (using the Endpoint snap)
AutoCAD generally causes a joining the two other trimmed lines (see
context sensitive popup menu to be figure 6). Then trim the remaining four
displayed (showing a selection of
the options available "at the horizontal lines towards the top of the bay,
moment"). back to the right-hand edge.

    Figure 6
Lines trimmed
and broken!

The last floor pattern is at the top of the "bay". You will
need to enlarge the view of the centre to be able to see it
Zoom Window icon  clearly. Selectzoom-window (or type Z   W   ), enter the
selection window (so you can see at least the area shown in
Firgure 7).
Polyine icon  Select polyline (or type PL ), and then
type 0,-600  @1000,0 ), then using
the Endpoint snap mode, pick the right-
hand end of the top horizontal line
below, finally press   to end the
command.
Now you will use a technique in
AutoCAD called "grip-editing". Click
on the lines just drawn (they'll become
"dashed"), then click on the "joint"
Intersect snap mode icon  point of the lines ("First Pick" in Figure
7), select then Intersect snap mode,
click on the position where the
horizontal line crosses the bay's right-
hand edge line ("Second Pick" in
Figure 7 Grip editing
Figure 7). AutoCAD should move the   positions.
selected vertex to the intersection
point!
Press the Escape key (ESC) twice to de-select the lines.

Zoom Dynamic

One of the most powerful of the zoom

If you don't like the dynamic zoom options is zoom-dynamic, it allows for
command, there's always the scroll zooming and panning at the same time.
bars...
Type Z  D  or select the command
from the zoom flyout (flydown?)
shown in figure 8.
 AutoCAD should draw the whole
drawing, a green (or purple) rectangle
showing the current view and the
cursor will turn into a rectangle with a
X cross at the centre. If you click with
the left mouse button you can resize
the zoom window's size (click again to
fix the new size).

Figure 8   Zoom Dynamic

Move the zoom window (the cursor!) over the lower half of
"REGEN" can be abbreviated to the "bay" and press  . If the arc has turned into a series of
"RE"... straight lines then type REGEN  to re-generate the view.

Draw the Walls

Before drawing the walls, create a new layer called

"WALLS", and set the layer's colour to be something other
than white, and make it the current layer.
Don't forget to offset the line at the The wall is 700 outside the arc
"top" of the arc (see figure 9) floor pattern, so we will offset
that pattern. Offset the arc and
the vertical lines on either end (to
the right) by 700. Notice that the
new lines are in the floor layer,
you will need to change the lines
into the walls layer.

Select the lines and arc just

created as well as the lines at the
bottom (see figure 9) - do this by
click first at about the bottom-
right of the selection rectangle in Figure Change properties
figure 9 and then the top-left 9
  selections.
point.
This should select everything except the line at the top, pick
it now. Having selected the objects, now they'll be changed
to the new layer. Go to the layers drop-down list and select
"WALLS" (the layer you just created). All the selected
objects will change to that layer! Press "Esc" (escape) twice
to de-select the objects.
Fillet icon 
Now you will join up the sections of
the wall line. Select fillet (or type F
 In selecting both these points, it's
important where you click on the
line! The first point should be in
the bottom-half of the line, while
the second point should be to the
left of the (projected) first line.

Now, use fillet on the lines shown in

figure 11. Note that the extact position
that you pick is not important, but, it
is important that you pick to the right
(1st point) and below (2nd point) the
intersection, the part you pick (at this
stage of the fillet command) is the part
that AutoCAD will not remove! Figure 11     Second Fillet.

That completes the bottom end of the bay. Have you saved
Save icon 
your drawing recently?
Now use the scroll bars to move the view so that you can
see more of the lines at the "top" - you need to be able to see
the top of the arc you drew earlier (see figure 12).
Offset icon  Select offset (or type o  [the letter 'o']), and then type 250
, pick the bottom (of the four lines that extend to the right
edge-line), pick a position below the line to indicate the
offset direction, press   to end then command.
Now you will use fillet to clean up the
Fillet icon  rest of the wall lines. Select fillet (or
type F  ), pick the short vertical line
(see figure 12), and then pick the
right-hand end of the line just created.
Restart the fillet command, pick the
outer arc to the right of the vertical,
and pick the vertical (at a Figure 12     Third Fillet.
point above the arc).
Change the horizontal line ("2nd pick" in figure 12) into the
WALLS layer.
Extend icon  Lastly, you will extend the horizontal line to the right edge-
line. Select extend (or type EX ), pick the right edge-line
It's necessary to pick to the right of
(this is the line you will extend to), press   (end the
the middle of the line because
AutoCAD extends the nearest selection process), pick to the right of the middle on the
endpoint to the "boundary edge". horizontal line, and finally press  .

Draw the Passage Between the Bays

Use the scroll bars to bring the bottom into view.
 To draw the passage-way we will firstly draw its centre
line, and then use offset to get the location of the walls.
Select line (or type L ), select the Center snap mode, pick
Line icon 
one of the arcs, type @3000,0  (to show the direction of
Center snap mode icon 
the line), press   (to end the command).
Offset icon  Offset this line 500 above and below the line - so that you
end up with 3 lines, with the original in the middle.
Extend the bottom line the the right
edge-line!
Select line (or type L ), select the
Intersection snap mode, pick the
Intersection snap mode icon 
intersection of the outer arc and the
top-most of the 3 lines; select the
Perpendicular snap mode icon 
Perpendicular snap mode, pick the right
edge-line (see Figure 13).
Figure 13     Bay Bottom!

Trim the bottom line to remove the Erase the top two horizontal lines, and trim the bottom line
section to the left of the arc. back to the outer arc.
Finally, use Break, to remove the arc between the remaing
Break icon 
two lines.

Finishing the Walls!

Before hatching the wall

areas(!) you will need to
close off the walls. Firstly,
you'll turn off the CONST
layer.
Figure 14   Layers Drop-down list

Click on the layer status area,

These lines are needed because AutoCAD will display a list of the
you must close off areas before layers and their status. The first
hatching them.
icon controls whether the layer is
"on" or "off". Click on this
icon beside CONST, the 'light' will
go out! Then click on WALLS to
close the drop-list.
Now draw the lines identified in
Figure 15, you may need to use
zoom or the scroll bars to get all Figure Lines to close of
the lines in the view. 15
  hatch areas.

Hatching

Save icon  Before hatching it's often a good idea to save your drawing
 (select save or press Ctrl-S).
Create a new layer, called hatch, and make it current, and
Hatch icon  then select hatch from the Draw toolbar, make sure the
pattern type is "Predefined", and set the patern to AR-
SAND, set the scale to 2, select "Pick Points", pick inside
the two areas, press   to end the selection process, pick
"OK". AutoCAD should draw lots of dots, almost filling-in
the wall area.
Finally, you need to erase the three lines you added to close
Note that the hatch style we are
using may appear solid, but it is the wall areas so you could hatch them (see figure 15). Use
not! Zooming in will show that the Layer Controls to turn the "HATCH" layer OFF first. If
hatch is a "sand" pattern. To have you accidentally pick the wrong thing, type: R  (remove) to
the hatch "solid" simply select the remove selections, and then type: A  to restart adding
SOLID style instead of"AR-
SAND"...
selections. Once you've erased the three lines, turn the
"HATCH" layer back ON.
If your mouse has a scroll wheel That completes the basic half bay! Use zoom dynamic to
roll it and see what happens... view the whole of the bay and then save your drawing!

Mirror the Half Bay.

To mirror the section completed,

Mirror icon  select mirror from the modify
toolbar (or type MI ), enclose all
the graphics inside the selection
rectangle, press   (to end the
selection process), type 0,0  (the
centre of the building will be the
start of the mirror line), type @0,-1
 (this creates a vertical line as the
mirror line, this causes the graphics
to be mirrored to the left), type N  
(don't delete the old objects). Figure 16     Completed Bay.

Duplicate the Bay

Zoom All icon  Before continuing, select zoom-all (or type Z  A ), so

Array icon  you can see the whole drawing. Then select array (or
AutoCAD will copy the single bay type AR ), use a selection rectangle to select the whole bay,
through 360 degrees, giving 8 press   (end selection process), type P  (polar array),
bays!
type 0,0  (rotation centre), 8  (we want 8 bays!),   (go
all the way), Y  (rotate as you go).

Last Gasps....

Save the drawing  That's basically it, except for the doors! There are a few
other details (such as a spiral stair) that we won't draw, but
 we will draw the entry - this will give you some experience
erasing hatching...
Zoom in on the "eastern" bay
(see figure 17). If AutoCAD
didn't draw the hatching
type REGEN (regenerate is
similar to redraw, except that it
forces AutoCAD to carefully
recalculate the screen view, this
means that curves which might to
drawn "roughly" after a zoom are
Remember that there is one hatch
redrawn as smooth curves). Erase
object for each half bay... the 4 hatching objects! Figure 17     Zoom Window.

Line icon  You will now draw the centreline of the doorway,
select line (or type L ), select the Endpoint snap mode and
pick the middle of the inner vertical wall line, then select the
Perpendicular snap mode and pick the outer vertical line of
the wall (the line to the right of the one just picked).
Next, offset the line 1250 "up" and "down" to make a 2500
wide doorway; and erase the centre-line.
You will now use trim to take the vertical
two lines back to the doorway line. This
is done because we want to hatch the
wall area again, so can't have any lines
"sticking out".
Select trim (or type TR ), pick the
Trim icon  doorway lines, press   (end selections),
pick the vertical lines (see figure 18); and
press   (end the command). Figure Lines to be
18
  trimmed.

Draw the lines back(!), but as two

lines, instead of the four. We could
draw the door, but let's not bother!
Now you need to draw two lines to
It may be necessary to zoom out
close off the two hatch regions. If the
(or pan) before the hatching
becomes visible. hatching is not visible type REGEN .
Draw lines (using the Endpoint snap
mode) to close off the two hatch
sections (figure 19 shows one pair of Figure 19     Lines to join.
line ends).
Remember to change the current
layer to "HATCH"...
Now hatch the four areas!
 The entry has number of stairs and there is another entry on
the "western" side but we'll leave that off!
Select Zoom-all (or type Z  A ), so you can see the
Zoom All icon 
whole drawing (see figure 20). Save your drawing
Save icon 
(select Save or press Ctrl-S). Exit AutoCAD and logoff!

Introduction

In this fourth (and final) AutoCAD tutorial you will learn

how to plot drawings. In doing this you will learn about
paper space and viewports. Let me comment before you
begin, that in this tutorial I will be telling you to draw things
(as much as possible), rather than explaining how to go
about drawing them... read through the text carefully!
You will draw a form study of Robert Venturi's "Fire Station
The drawing is quite simple, to - Number 4" in Columbus Indiana (1966), from Clark and
allow time at the end to cover the Pause's "Precedents in Architecture", page 122. The drawing
issues relating to plotting. is quite simple, to allow time at the end to cover the issues
relating to plotting.
Please note that the dimensions used in this tutorial are
neither accurate nor correct! I don't have access to an
accurately dimensioned drawing of the building so I've
guessed the dimensions...
Set the drawing limits from 0,0 to 50000,35000; then set the
units (set the number of decimal points to 0) and finally do a
zoom-all.

Draw the "Construction" Lines

Before you continue, I'd suggest Create a CONST layer, set its colour and make it current.
that you display the Object Snap Draw a 18800 x 18800 rectangle (starting somewhere near
Toolbar. the bottom-left corner of the screen).
Alternatively, you can get a "pop- Draw a Circle, using the MIDpoint snap mode, pick the
up" menu of the snap modes by bottom edge of the square, and then using the ENDpoint
Shift-right clicking! snap mode, pick the top-right of the square.
Next you will draw a rectangle to complete the golden
rectangle. To do this we can use the bottom-right corner of
the square for one corner, but the other corner is more
difficult: you will use AutoCAD's point filters to take
 the x value from the circle and the y value from the original
square!
Start the rectangle command, then using the ENDpoint snap
The point filters that I'm mode, pick the bottom-right of the square, then type: .X ,
introducing here are really useful -
using the PERpendicular snap mode, pick the circle to the
they often provide a way to "find"
positions without having to type in right of the bottom of the square, then type: .Y , using the
numbers. ENDpoint snap mode, pick the top-right corner of the
square. This technique for drawing objects is very useful!
Start the line command, then using the ENDpoint snap
mode, pick the top-left corner of the square, using the
MIDpoint snap mode, pick the right edge of the rectangle,
using the ENDpoint snap mode, pick the bottom-left of the
square, press   to end the command.
Now you will use grip-editing to Pick the last line drawn (near the bottom-left corner), then
move the end of the lower line up pick the grip-box on the bottom-left corner (to move that
1800: endpoint), and type: @0,1800 .
The entry will be shown as a circle about mid-way along the
FROM snap mode icon  bottom of the square. Start the circle command, then select
the FROM snap mode, then using the ENDpoint snap mode,
The FROM snap mode is really pick the bottom-left corner of the square, then
useful for specifying objects that type: @9800,1400 1400 . Here you are saying that the
are positioned relative to other
objects. circle's centre is to be 9800,1400 from the bottom-left
corner!
Now, explode the original square and then offset the bottom
of the square up 600, and then offset that line 1500 up. Then
offset the left of the square 10000 to the right.
These are the major construction
lines that will be used to set-out the
plan.

Your drawing should look like

figure 1.

If you haven't saved your drawing

yet, then save it now!

Figure 1     The construction lines.

Draw the Walls

Create a new layer called WALLS, set it's colour and make
it current. Use Zoom Window to enlarge view of the plan.
The walls will be drawn using the polyline command so that
you can set the thickness of the lines after drawing them. But
 before drawing the walls, you will set a running-snap! The
reason for drawing construction lines in the first place is to
make it easier to draw the walls. To make it even easier, you
will tell AutoCAD toautomatically snap to line
intersections, this saves you from having to specify the snap
mode for every point (though you still need to set the snap
mode when you want to use another snap mode or none).

Running-snap icon 
Select running-snap from the Object Snap toolbar (or
type:OSNAP ), then select "Intersection" from the dialog
Be careful not to pick "insertion". box and select "OK" to dismiss the dialog box.

Figure 2     Path of exterior walls.

Start the polyline command and pick the first five points

Polyline icon 
Note that the arc should be part of shown in figure 2, then type: ARC  (the next segment of the
the polyline. polyline will be an arc), type: SECOND  this specifies you
will enter a "second" (& third) point, using the NEArest
NEArest snap mode icon 
snap mode, pick the 6th point, then pick the 7th point to end
the arc. Now type:LINE  (to go back to drawing straight-
lines), pick the 8th point, and finally press   to end the
command.
Having demonstrated the running snap, let's now turn it
OFF! Select running-snap again (or type: OSNAP ), select
the "Clear All" button (below the various snap options), and
then select "OK".
Turn the CONST layer OFF.
Now you will change the width of the external wall to make
it a thick line - the wall was drawn using polyline to
demonstrate polyline editing! Did you turn the CONST layer
OFF?
Many AutoCAD commands have 1 Select Modify - Object - Polyline (or type: PE ), pick the
or 2 letter abbrieviatons! PE is external wall polyline. Spend a moment having a look at the
short for PEDIT.
various editing options - you can even fit a curved (spline)
line to the polyline. Type: WIDTH  (or simply: W ), then
type: 250 , this is the new line-width. Press   to end the
command.
 Turn the CONST layer ON.

Paper Space
Venturi's building is quite In these tutorials, you have been drawing in what's
interesting, but we don't have time calledMODEL SPACE. The significance of this is that you
to draw the whole plan -- and cover
plotting....
use real-world sizes. When plotting, you can either specify a
scale factor to plot the drawing at a particular scale or you
can use PAPER SPACE.
During the following step your drawing will disappear,
don’t panic...
During this step your drawing Double-click on "TILE" (on the status area at the bottom of
willdisappear, don't panic...  the screen), the "TILE" should become greyed-out.
"Tile" on the status area:
Alternatively, type: TILEMODE  0 . When this setting is
ON, AutoCAD displays multiple viewports beside each
Note that instead of other, this allows you to have two views (of different parts)
typing"tilemode" you can type "ti".
of the same drawing on the screen. When the setting is OFF,
AutoCAD displays multiple viewports, but the viewports are
allowed to overlap each other; also viewports can be moved,
erased or resized like "normal" graphics! Turning tilemode
OFF, also changes the "MODEL" space setting (next to
"TILE) to "PAPER", indicating that you are now in
"PAPER SPACE"!
The advantage of paper space is that you can have numerous
drawings (or views of the one drawing), each at a different
scale; and you can draw text using "paper heights" rather
than world heights.

Set the Paper Space Limits

The plotter being used (at the Built Environment’s CADLab

Now we set the limits again! This at UNSW) is a "HP DesignJet 200 Ink Jet Printer", this
time for the paper. plotter has 17mm left and right margins and 5mm top and
bottom margins, this is critical! When you lay-out your
If you aren't sure of a printer's
margins do a test plot with drawing you must remember that you can’t draw on this part
diagonal lines that would go to the of the page! My solution is to set the drawing limits to the
paper's edge and then measure the area of the page that can be drawn on (the "plotable area"),
margins! and then draw a border equidistant from each of the paper
edges.
A landscape oriented A3 sheet is 420x297mm, this leaves a
Don't forget to do a zoom-all after
setting the limits. plotable area of 386x287mm. Set the limits
to 0,0 to 386,287.
Create a layer called FRAME, set it's colour and make it
current.
 Draw a rectangle 20mm in from the edges of the A3 sheet;
because of the plotter’s 17 & 5mm margins, draw the
rectangle from 3,15 to 383,272, see figure 3. The rectangle
is used to position "viewports" and then its layer can be
turned OFF before plotting (if desired).

If you can't see the

rectangle, select
zoom-all.

Figure 3     A3 sheet with limits and 20mm border shown.

Create a Viewport

Once in paper space you can create a number of views of

your drawing, with each a different scale! But for this
If you want to change to size of the tutorial, you will create just one viewport; select View -
viewport to make it cover more of Floating Viewports - 1 Viewport (or type: MVIEW  ), pick
the "paper", use grip-editing to
resize the viewport. You could use a point towards the bottom-left of the drawing (the exact
snap modes to "snap" the viewport position doesn’t matter at the moment), and then pick a
to the drawing border. point towards the top-right of the drawing. AutoCAD should
show a view of your drawing! This view is at no particular
scale.

Return to Model Space

Double-click on "PAPER" on the status area or select View

- Model Space (Floating) (or type: MSPACE ), the
"PAPER" on the status area will change to "MODEL".
Notice that if you move the mouse
Move the cursor around inside the viewport and you will see
cursor outside the viewport it
changes back to an arrow! the normal cross-hair cursor appear. Usually, you want to
have the view at a particular scale but sometimes you simply
want a particular part of the drawing to plot and you don't
care what it's scale is.
 Select zoom-window (or type: Z ), enclose the entry circle
in a selection rectangle, type: REGEN  - this should force
AutoCAD to recalculate the circle (and therefore display it
better). If your drawing is like mine you will see that
AutoCAD has made a mess of the line widths of the
polyline around the arc...
Select zoom-previous (or type: Z  P ), this is a
Zoom-previous icon 
particularly useful zoom option, because it's very common
to zoom in on a detail and then want to zoom back out. Of
course, you could use zoom-in and zoom-out, or zoom-
dynamic if you’re panning as well as zooming.

Setting the View Scale

To set the viewport to a particular scale, you need to express

the scale, relative to the paper. If you want the view at 1:100
Zoom-scale icon  you use a scale factor of 1/100 (or 0.01). Select zoom-
scale from the zoom flyout (or type : Z  S ), then
You could also type 0.01xp.
type: 1/100xp ), this will produce a view at 1:100, the
"xp" means "multiplied by the paper". Select pan (or type: P
Pan icon  ), and drag the view until the "golden rectangle" is
centred within the viewport, then press  .

Paper Space Revisited

You may need to re-size the Return to paper space by double-click on "MODEL" on the
viewport to get the building fitting status area or select View - Paper Space (or type: PS   
comfortably on the page - if you
haven't already snapped the this is short for "PSPACE").
viewport to the border.

Text
Select Format - Text Style, in the top section of the dialog
select "New", click on OK (to accept the default name) then
choose a font from the Font Name drop-down list - choose a
true-type font (look for the TT icon), for example Arial, set
the Height to 10, select "Apply" then select "Close".

Create a TEXT layer, set it's colour and make it current.

Make sure you're in Paper Space, then select text (or

Text icon 
The Text command can also be type: MT which is short for MTEXT), you will now enter
used to add text in MODEL two points that will define the "boundary" of the text area.
SPACE, but the height of the text When you to type a paragraph of text, AutoCAD
must be thetext height x the plot will wrap the text to fit inside the boundary! Pick a position
scale, for example if you want the
below the bottom-left corner of the building, and a second
 text 5mm high and the drawing at point near the right edge of the 20mm border try to make
scale 1:100, the height must be 500. sure there's enough height for the text...
Depending on the way AutoCAD is Type: Robert Venturi’s Mother’s Fire Station #4!
configured, you may enter the text
into a dialog box or the word You can change the properties of the text (within the dialog
processor. This section assumes box) by selecting the property that you want to alter: select
you are using the "Multiline Text "Mother's" then select the colour drop-down list (it should
Editor" dialog box.
show "ByLayer" at present), select a colour, then click on
"OK" to dismiss the dialog box.
This text is obviously wrong. 
Select properties, pick the text and press  , AutoCAD will
Properties icon 
display the Modify MText dialog, take a moment to look at
the various options available...
Click on the "Full Editor..." button (beside the text),
highlight "Mother's" (include the space after the word),
press the "Delete" key, select "OK" twice - to dismiss the
Editor and then the Modify dialog.
If the text has wrapped onto 2 lines, select properties and
You can also use Grip Editing to
change the text area!
then the text again, then increase the Width (try adding 10
for each letter on the second line), then dismiss the dialog.
If necessary, move the text so that it
is better centred under the "Golden
Rectangle".

Figure 4     The Completed Drawing.

Creating the Plot File

Before plotting, turn OFF the FRAME layer - this is

optional, but if your viewport and your 20mm border are not
the same, then you’ll have a mess!
Select print or select File - Print (or type: PLOT ), the Plot
Print icon 
Configuration dialogue box will be displayed. This
complicated dialog box has six areas:
  Device and Default Information
 Pen Parameters
 Additional Parameters
 Paper Size and Orientation
 Scale, Rotation, and Origin
 Plot Preview

The plotting instructions here are The "Device and Default Information" section will show the
specific to UNSW - if you're currently selected output device, if it doesn't list the DJ200
plotting elsewhere you will need to
ask your "local expert" (and if
then click on the button and select "HPGL2 - DJ200" from
that's youthen read throught the the list of devices.
AutoCAD and printer manuals and
make some test plots)! In the "Additional Parameters" section, make sure "Limits"
and "Plot to File" are selected. Then click on "Filename",
change the Drive to Q: (the print queue), if your drawing
name is not distinct the you should change the plot filename
to something unique (and short), finally click on "Save" -
this saves the filename it doesn't do the plot!
In the "Paper Size and Orientation" section make sure "MM"
is selected, if the plot area is not equal to your limits (386 x
287) then select "Size..." and choose the correct paper size or
type the dimensions as a USER size.
In the Scale section, set the scale to 1 = 1 and make sure
"Scaled to fit" is not selected.
It’s usually a good idea to do a preview! In the "Plot
Preview" section, select "Full" and then click on "Preview".
The preview should show the drawing! When you are ready,
press   to return to the plot dialog.
Click on the "OK" button near the bottom of the Plot
Configuration dialog box. AutoCAD will then create the
plot file (which should only take a moment because your
drawing is very simple). The plot file will be "tut4.plt" or
whatever your drawing is called, with the ".plt" extension.
 Note that the "paper" in the
preview is in fact the drawing's
limits, which were set to the area of
the paper that the plotter can draw
on!

If something looks wrong with the

preview, check that all the settings
are correct and if they are, then
cancel the plot and check that your
limits are correct. If you still can't
work out what's wrong call the
tutor!

Figure 5     Plot Preview.

That's all folks! Save the drawing and exit AutoCAD!

Plotting
In addition to this text, refer to Jim Plotting this tutorial is strictly optional. But, hopefully at
Plume's "Notes on using the HP least one drawing will be plotted from each group. This will
Designjet 200 iInk Jet Ploter".
allow you the opportunity to see it done!
Each plot costs $1.00, using your UNICARD photocopy
card.
The dj200 plotter is located in Lab 3 (Rm 3034), the
ON/OFF switch is on the bottom-left of the front. If the
lights on the right are dark then turn the plotter ON.
Go to the computer beside the plotter and follow the
instructions there!
Take the paper from the cupboard to the left of the plotter
and carefully load the paper into the plotter: hold the sheet
with its short edge facing the front of the plotter, the right
edge of the paper must be between the dotted
lines and exactly straight. Carefully push the paper up into
the plotter until the plotter grabsthe sheet. If the paper is not
straight the Error and Load Medialights will blink,
press Form Feed, remove the sheet and try again. If the
paper is loaded correctly the Ready light will come on.
When the plot is complete, carefully remove the paper from
the plotter and leave for one minute to dry.

Conclusion
 These tutorials have given you the basics of (2 dimensional)
drawing using AutoCAD, I sincerely hope that this
knowledge serves you well and that you continue to increase
your knowledge and understanding of AutoCAD (and CAD
in general).
The first tutorial introduced AutoCAD and got you to focus
on the interaction on the command line between you and the
program. In addition, you used toolbars to select drawing
commands and learnt a bit about snap modes.
The second tutorial introducing "real" coordinates; and then
focused on editing, using the array command to copy and
rotate graphics objects, using explode and erase to modify,
and then changing linetypes.
Tutorial three is the longest and most difficult. It (like the
second tutorial) focused on editing, using offset, array and
mirror, in addition to fillet, trim, break and extend. It also
introduced the concept of layers which is vital to a proper
understanding of CAD.
Finally, this tutorial introduced the concepts of model &
paper space, viewports, plotting and text.
These tutorials cover most of the basics of architectural
drawing in AutoCAD, but there is much that is not covered:
dimensioning and 3D, for starters(!), and while I have tried
to show you how you might approach drawing a building, I
haven’t directly discussed this at all!
If you’re asking where do I go from here? - that's great -
read up on the concepts of CAD and AutoCAD. There are
numerous books available on the topic and more appearing
all the time. In my opinion, keep away from books that seem
to be thousands of pages long, you hopefully have access to
the AutoCAD manuals, use them as reference materials, if
necessary. Look instead for books that give you
things not covered in the manuals! By reading books that
cover how CAD can or should be implemented or managed
in an office, I think you'll learn more about CAD related
issues than you'll learn from a thousand pages of reference
manual.

AutoCAD allows you to have access to a large number of commands. A general rule is that
you will use 20% of the commands 80% of the time. I will start by introducing you to the most
common drawing commands. When you combine these with the basic modify commands, you
 will be able to make elaborate drawings quite quickly. In other words, most of the commands
you will use while using AutoCAD are taught in Level 1.

The important thing to remember is that AutoCAD will expect you give it information in a very
particular order. The most frustrating thing when you begin using this program is that you will
try to do something, but AutoCAD will 'not work'. In most cases, it means that you are trying to
input information at the wrong time. This is why it is very important to be in the habit of
looking at the command line.

The command line tells you what information AutoCAD requires to continue.

Your first drawing assignment will be to use the drawing commands in conjunction with the
co-ordinate system defined in Lesson 1-1. This is a basic assignment, but it is very important
to understand how to give the program accurate information. You will use the following
commands:

Command Keystroke Icon Location Result

Draw a straight line segment from

Line Line / L Home > LIne
one point to the next

Home> Circle > Draws a circle based on a center

Circle Circle / C
Center, Radius point and radius.

Erase Erase / E Modify > Erase Erases an object.

Print / Plot Quick Access Enables the Print/Plot Configuration

Print
CTRL+P Toolbar > Print Dialog Box
Quick Access
Undo U / CTRL+Z Undoes the last command.
Toolbar> Undo
 
Assignment #1 - Drawing lines to exact points

Duplicate the drawing called Assign #1. 

Click HERE to see the finished drawing in JPG format.

Click HERE to download the DWG file.

You will not have to worry about the title block or text, or dimensioning.

Make sure you are comfortable with the co-ordinate system as explained in Lesson 1-1.
When you are finished this assignment, check the printed drawing with a scale ruler. All lines
should measure up exactly if all went well.

Steps:

Start AutoCAD and a new drawing by pressing the Application Button (top left corner) and
pressing the new button to reveal the flyout.  Once you see the flyout, click on Drawing.
You will see a dialog box open that asks you to select a template drawing to use (as shown
below):

Select the "acad.dwt" template file and press the Open button to continue to the drawing
screen.
 Once there, type in Z <ENTER> E <ENTER> this will zoom into to the extents of the drawing
area and make it easier to see what you are drawing (NOTE: nothing will appear to happen).

For all lessons on this level, make sure that you do not have Dynamic Input turned on. You
can check this on the status bar. Make sure   (the DYN
button) isn't depressed. Your status bar buttons (bottom of the screen) should like the image
above with 3 icon pressed (in blue).

Start the LINE command (as explained in the table above) and draw a line
from 1,2 to 3,2 to 3,4 to 1,4 Press enter after each point. (*Remember to watch the
command line as you do this.) For the last line, you can either type in 1,2 or C to close
the line back to the first point you entered. You have just drawn a 2" square using absolute
co-ordinates. Your command history (F2 key) should look like this:

Command: L LINE Specify first point: 1,2

Specify next point or [Undo]: 3,2

Specify next point or [Undo]: 3,4

Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: 1,4

Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: 1,2

Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: <ENTER>

If you make a mistake, you can use the undo icon,   press U or press CTRL+Z.

You can also use the ERASE command to get rid of lines you don't want.

Next draw a similar box using relative co-ordinates. Start the LINE command and begin at
point 4.5,2. From there draw a line two units to the right by typing @2,0 (this means 2
units in the X direction, 0 units in the Y direction based on the last point you entered). Next
type @0,2 then @-2,0 then @0,-2 to finish the box. (Remember to press enter after each
point.)

Now erase the last box you just drew. Start the ERASE command and then select the lines
you want to erase. Then press <enter>. Now redraw the box for more practice!

BREAK TIME : Take a moment to think about what you just did. You first drew lines based on
ABSOLUTE points on the screen. Then you drew lines based on points RELATIVE to other points
and objects. the difference is critical.

Draw a third box using polar co-ordinate input. Start the LINE command and begin at

point 8,2 then enter. Type @1<45 to draw the first line. Next
enter @1<135 then @1<225 then @1<315 (or C to close). What you have just done is
drawn a line 1 unit long at 45o, then another at 135o and so on. Do the angles you entered
make sense to you? If not, review it.

Start the CIRCLE command and add a circle that has a center point at 7,6 with a radius
of .75 (Watch the command line for instructions).
To finish the drawing, try putting a 10"x7" border around the page starting at 0,0 using the
any of the methods shown above (relative, absolute or polar).

When you have done the assignment, print (or plot) it out. To do this, bring up the plot dialog
box using any method explained above (plot <enter> will work). Set it up to print as
shown below. Follow these steps for a successful plot (see diagram below):

1. Select your printer - laser or inkjet will work fine.

2. Select the paper size - "Letter" ( 8-1/2" x 11") is needed in this case.
3. For the "Plot Area", select "Extents" - that will plot everything you drew.
4. Select the checkbox to "Center the Plot" on your sheet of paper (looks better).
5. If "Fit to Paper" is selected by default, uncheck it and select a scale of 1 inch to 1
paper unit (1:1). This will make your printout 'life-sized'.
6. Now Preview your drawing. I strongly recommend that you preview EVERY
drawing you will ever draw in AutoCAD - a lot can go wrong, so you don't want to
waste paper (especially when you're using expensive 3'x4' sheets!).If your preview
looks good, cancel out of it by clicking on the large red X icon.
7. If you're sure that everything's ok (this is where good habits begin), press the OK
button.
 Note: You may have to change the paper size in your printer (Use the Windows printer
settings to do this.) You may also have to change the rotation or origin of the plot. Check
the Landscape radio button in the Drawing Orientation section.

If everything worked out, you should be able to measure your drawing and have it exactly the
way you drew it (a couple of 2" squares, an angled 1" square and a 1-1/2" circle).

Save your drawing as you would any other Windows file. CTRL+S will bring up the Save or

Save as dialog box. 

If you want to check your input, click HERE to see the commands needed to complete this
assignment.

 Click here to see a video showing how to draw Assignment #1 using AutoCAD

2008.

This assignment has given you a basic introduction to drawing using a variety of methods.
Once you have completed the assignment, practice these methods, as you will be using them
often.

Your boxes should match the drawing example. They will be the same size and on the same
place in the drawing. If you have a ruler, you will see that your lines are life-size (1:1). From
these basic concepts, you can now draw lines anywhere if you know where they should go.
The next lessons will add to these commands. As you get used to the AutoCAD interface, you
will find it easier and easier to learn the new commands. But for now, mastering the co-
ordinate systems, inputting commands and reading the command line should be your
priority.

Topics covered in this Lesson:

Review and practice of accurate input

Now it's time to see if you were paying attention in the first lesson. In this lesson you will complete the drawing that will test your
knowledge of drawing accurately using different types of precision input. Clients expect 100% accurate drawings from YOU. It is up to
the YOU to ensure that YOU have the ability to draw quickly and accurately. There is a lot of room for error when drafting, as you need
to read accurately, transfer the numbers to AutoCAD accurately, and draw accurately. It is the job of this exercise to help you learn to
draw accurately - speed will come only through practice.

You can download the DWG file HERE and view the image HERE 

Print the file out and try to reproduce it. Start at the bottom left corner (1,1). Use the drawing tools you have learned in the previous
lessons. You will have to use a combination of absolute, relative, and polar co-ordinate input.
 a. Open AutoCAD and set up the drawing as you have for the previous assignments.
b. Complete the assignment by drawing it accurately using the dimensions provided.
c. If you make an error along the way, remember that you can use your ENDPOINT Osnap to begin where you left off.
d. Save your drawing.
e. Print your drawing using the guidelines given in the previous assignments.

Click HERE to check the command line input for this drawing.

As mentioned earlier, AutoCAD is accurate. It is up to the user to ensure that they give the proper input to make sure that the drawing
is accurate. It can be extremely costly to make mistakes with what seem to be 'minor' errors in accuracy.

By this point in the tutorials, you should able to do the above drawing without referencing other materials. If this isn't the case, you
should review the previous lessons. Here are two more practice exercises to work on your input and drawing skills.